We’ve been all around the world (OK via webinar, but still!) spreading the gospel of email automation and how it helps e-commerce business owners like yourself increase conversions and customer engagement. Wanna know our top four? Scroll on!

Before we get into it, let’s take a moment to define email automation. Think of email automation as a tool to help you retain customers online. Automated emails are triggered by certain actions (I.E. someone enters an email address into a newsletter sign-up box), and should be timely, relevant, and if possible, personalized.

Oh yeah, have we discussed the benefits of adding email to your digital marketing strategy in general? Let's do it! Email marketing generates the highest ROI of any marketing channel, lowers dependence on the unpredictable flow of new customers, helps build brand awareness, streamline your customer base, and using platforms like Mailchimp and Klayvio, is relatively easy to begin. Cool? Let’s talk strategy.

Abandoned Cart Series

So you go online window shopping – toss some items in your cart and ghost them – and receive an email an hour later reminding you that you “forgot” something. That’s an abandoned cart email automation! E-commerce business owners who employ an abandoned cart strategy can expect to recover around 63% of the money left on the table by customers who abandon their carts.

Tips to rock your first abandoned cart series

• Studies show that customers generally convert after receiving the third reminder email, so aim to take your abandon cart email further than a single reminder email.

• Find a sweet spot that works for your business based on your metrics, but make sure to pace the send frequency of the reminder emails (I.E. 24hrs, 48hrs, 72hrs).

• Aim to make future adjustments to the series by analyzing the metrics associated with it. You may find that you only need two reminders emails instead of three, or would benefit from having more.

Welcome Series

A welcome email can be triggered when a subscriber joins an email list. Welcome emails are great because on average, they receive an open rate of 45% (versus 18% for promotional emails). Because shoppers are actively opening and engaging with welcome messages, these types of campaigns provide an excellent opportunity for business owners to introduce themselves, their products, and what customers can expect from the business.

Tips to rock your first welcome series

• Give subscribers the low-down on your brand. Briefly tell your brand story, how you stand out, what you have in common with your customers and why they should be (and you are) excited about your new relationship.

• Give users an incentive to make a purchase from your site by offering a carrot (I.E. a discount code, downloadable PDF, etc.)

Nurture campaigns allow e-commerce business owners to focus on the 47% of customers who are ready to buy from them, just not at this moment. Nurture series gradually guide customers through the sales cycle by sharing content they deem as valuable. This type of series ensures that customers have a reason to remain subscribed to your email list because they receive more than just sales emails.

Tips to rock your first nurture series

• Find a creative way to add value to your audience by educating subscribers about topics pertaining to your brand/industry/product, expanding on your brand story, etc.

• Don't focus on discounts or products. Nurture campaigns are all about content marketing!

• Prioritize content that's helpful to subscribers. What problems are your subscribers experiencing that you can solve with email content?

New CustomerSeries

Sending a series of emails to new customers is a crucial first step in creating lasting relationship with them. Good customer service goes a long way IRL and online, so it’s a good idea for business owners to make sure the good vibes can be felt in cyberspace too.

Tips to rock your first new customer series

• Send a “thanks for your purchase” email immediately after purchase.

• Follow up with a simple check-in a few days later to provide new customers with an easy way to contact you if they need anything or have questions.

• Send notifications when a product ships and shortly after it’s scheduled to arrive. Make sure to ask if the product arrived free of damage and provide a way to reach you just in case.

• Solicit customers to leave reviews if they are satisfied with the product.

• Feel free to offer customers a time-sensitive promotion to make another purchase.

Bonus! See below for general new customer email send times, but definitely make adjustments as you observe the metrics specific to your campaigns.

• Thank You email : Immediately

• Check-in email: ~ 3 days later

• Product Arrival email: 2 days after product should have arrived

• Product Review: ~ 4-5 days later

• Time-sensitive Promotion email: ~ 5 days later

• Promotion Reminder: ~ 1 day after time sensitive promotion

Of course, email marketing automation doesn’t stop with these four types campaigns. Online business owners can employ more personalized campaigns by sending Happy Birthday or Anniversary automations, asking older customers to take specific actions to re-engage with the brand using a re-engagement campaign, and more!

We recommend implementing the above series to get a feel for how email marketing automation affects your business. Once you have a handle on your metrics and understanding what’s working, you can start working to add new automations specific to your business.